French fries always seem to taste better when dining out, don’t they? Maybe it’s because the restaurant, whether fast or fancy, knows that fries taste best golden, crispy and aromatic straight from a deep fat bath. Achieving that restaurant flavor with that crispness and aroma at home can be a...

Drinking

It’s a delicate line. How do you craft something that’s recognizable yet wholly unique? That was the question Alex Chasko, along with Jack and Stephen Teeling, asked themselves when they set about opening the first new distillery in Dublin in more than 125 years. They knew they wanted Teeling Whiskey...

On a Monday afternoon, Ed Marszewski sat at the bar of the Marz Community Brewing taproom, his phone pressed to his ear. Marz’s taproom was still more than a week from opening to the public, but a tedious four months since Marszewski had initially hoped to launch. He’d become a bit frazzled. There...

For a rich and savory dish such as this one, depending on what you’d like to highlight or tone down, you could rely on the smoky nature of a Sicilian red blend from Italy, the dense fruit of a Rhone blend from France, or the bright acidity of a pinot noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. MAKE THIS...

Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye is a duck-billed platypus of a spirit that’s a combination of Kentucky rye, Canadian rye and California port. At first glance, you might dismiss it as a flavored whiskey, such as Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Liqueur or Jim Beam Kentucky Fire Whiskey. But that’s not quite...

The temperature outside was 7 degrees. It was a day to avoid venturing outside, a day you regret having a dog that needs a walk, a day that your glasses fog up the minute you venture inside from said walk, a day you declare that — after your glasses fog up after walking the dog twice that day —...

Most read stories this hour

French fries always seem to taste better when dining out, don’t they? Maybe it’s because the restaurant, whether fast or fancy, knows that fries taste best golden, crispy and aromatic straight from a deep fat bath. Achieving that restaurant flavor with that crispness and aroma at home can be a...

On Saturday evening, I did what people do on Twitter and announced my imminent first taste of a curious creation from Goose Island. The beer was an imperial stout aged in Scotch whiskey barrels called Islay — pronounced “EYE-lah” — a name that honors the Scottish island famous for whiskey production....

I called WKGN-AM midday host Cody McClure — the Knoxville, Tenn., sports-talker who tweeted a four-letter insult at Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt — hoping for the best but expecting the worst. I wanted to at least give a so-called professional a chance to defend an outburst I considered unprofessional,...

Former "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon is running for New York governor. After flirting with a run for months, Nixon said on Twitter Monday that she will challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York's Democratic primary in September. It sets up an intriguing race pitting an openly gay liberal...

As the biggest news organization in Chicago and the Midwest, the Chicago Tribune wants to inform our readers and encourage them to push an agenda for a more vital community. The most direct way they do that is in choosing who will lead their governments. Our readers make up their own minds when...

Ald. Brendan Reilly would doubtless hate the comparison, but one thing he has in common with President Donald Trump is a readiness to lob bombs on Twitter. While most of his City Council colleagues play it safe (and dull) on social media, the 42nd Ward alderman lets it all hang out, often going...

The weekend was not entirely sweet at Gentile Arena for Loyola University Chicago students. Hannibal Buress’ Saturday night show at Loyola, a Jesuit Catholic university, was almost cut short after the 35-year-old Chicago comedian made a joke referencing sexual abuse of children in the Catholic...

President Donald Trump is preparing to impose a package of $60 billion in annual tariffs against Chinese products, following through on a longtime threat that he says will punish China for intellectual property theft and create more American jobs. The tariff package, which Trump plans to unveil...

Attorney General Lisa Madigan startled a stateful of pols last year when she announced she wouldn’t run for re-election. “As I look ahead, I believe that the end of my fourth term as attorney general will be the right time for me to seek a new challenge,” she said in September. Her decision sent...

President Donald Trump signed a bill Monday that killed an Obama-era worker safety rule that required businesses competing for large federal contracts to disclose and correct serious safety and other labor law violations. Earlier this month, the Senate voted to eliminate the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces...

Democratic primary voters on March 20 will choose from six candidates running for governor: a philanthropist, a state senator, an educator, a physician, a businessman and an anti-violence activist. Any candidate merits another title, “politician.” But some carry it better than others. Today we...

I spent the first two decades of my career as a social scientist studying liars and their lies. I thought I had developed a sense of what to expect from them. Then along came President Donald Trump. His lies are both more frequent and more malicious than ordinary people's. In research beginning...

On a sunny day between opening-round games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in Dallas, Loyola’s 98-year-old team chaplain, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, planned to go for a simple lunch down the street. “We couldn’t do it — everybody knows her,” said Tom Hitcho, the university’s longtime...

Michael Ferro stepped down from the board of Tronc on Monday, hours before Fortune published a story online accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior toward two women while in his previous role as head of a Chicago investment firm. Ferro had been chairman of Tronc’s board since February 2016,...

Only a few weeks ago, Dan McNeil was talking trade-ins rather than trades. While he enjoyed selling cars – or at least trying to – it clearly was not his forte. “It would have taken me a long time to get good at that. It’s not something that happens overnight,” said McNeil, who last week began...

We cannot know for sure why President Donald Trump unleashed a volley of attacks over the weekend on special counsel Robert Mueller. Perhaps he is edging toward an effort to remove him. Or perhaps he is not — the White House insisted Sunday night that he isn't — and is instead merely trying to...

Naperville will soon be home to a new mall — the Mall of India. Mayor Steve Chirico Monday announced the development will move into the long-vacant Walmart building at 776 S. Route 59 by late summer. "Residents will have a grocery store, food court, learning center and retail stores all in one...

Fred Hoiberg has a couch in his Advocate Center office on which he occasionally will try to snag a 20-minute nap. The pursuit is a nod to the stresses and demands that engulf NBA head coaches, a fact underscored Monday when Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue became the second coach this season to take...

Voters go to the polls Tuesday to decide Democratic and Republican nominees for the November general election, after a final day of campaigning saw candidates for governor, attorney general and Congress fan out across Illinois. Precinct polling places are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., and a preliminary...

When the Obama Presidential Center opens in about three years, visitors can get to it by car, Metra, bike or bus, but not by that most iconic form of Chicago transportation — the “L.” That’s because a Green Line branch that would have led right to the center was torn down in 1997, after some community...

Nearly an hour after her American Airlines flight was scheduled to leave Honolulu International Airport, passenger Lisa Hill heard the pilot announce that a maintenance problem would delay the takeoff. The pilot gave fliers the option of getting off the plane but Hill, who was flying to Boston...

Documents show some officials were so concerned about the mental stability of the student accused of last month's Florida high school rampage that they decided he should be forcibly committed. But the recommendation was never acted upon. Cruz is accused of the shooting rampage that killed 14 students...

The Tribune begins endorsements for contested primaries for Cook County Circuit Court judge. Choose wisely, voters, because it is maddeningly difficult to remove a bad judge once elected. Sitting judges must stand for retention every six years. It takes only a 60 percent “yes” vote to keep them...

Roger Federer, the world’s top-ranked tennis player, ​​​​was in Chicago on Monday for the first time to help kick off the countdown to September’s Laver Cup. Organizers spent Monday morning setting up a small tennis court next to Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate sculpture. Federer, who had arrived...

The Rev. C. Frank Phillips, founder of a religious order of men and pastor at the storied St. John Cantius Catholic Parish, was removed last week by the Archdiocese of Chicago amid an investigation into allegations of improper conduct with adult men, according to church officials. In a statement...